Return to Grace Review
Growing up I was always more interested in space than the ocean. I know there is the classic quote, “We know more about space than we do of our own oceans” but the vast expanse and the idea that there are completely separate yet similar planets out there to ours completely blows my mind. I’ve always found myself interested in anything space related, especially when it comes to something I can experience and play through a game. Recently I found a nice little game to play that helped itch this end of my brain called Return to Grace.
Did ChatGPT Write this STORY?
Obviously no… Return to Grace is a narrative-driven puzzle-like game where you are a space explorer. The game starts with you in a cold open, jumping right into the action, landing spaceship of the moon Ganymede. As you quickly find out, your hero, Adie, is on a journey with only their spaceship’s AI as crew. Once you land on this moon the AI gives you a location on your map as you go out in search of Grace, which is known to be within a place called the Spire. Before we get too deep, I first want to explain what Grace is. I would best describe Grace as an ancient AI that was used to make the best decisions and courses of action for the world in its golden age, think of it like a board of decision-makers but it’s all just one AI running code. As you move further into the barren snowy openness of the moon your connection to the ship’s AI disconnects but you’re soon met with a new AI named Logic. Logic is a fragment of the Grace AI and serves as the logical solution or direction the player could take. She takes the quickest and most efficient route in the puzzles but tells you that she doesn’t have complete control over all the areas of the spire. Anything related to delegating the power systems is controlled by another AI named Power. Power views himself as the pinnacle of AI. After meeting Control there is one more main function AI, Empathy, which has control of the pressure and oxygen levels of the spire, which likes to take things slow, and has a deep understanding of human emotions.
The story was creative in the way it progresses. Each AI gets its own character moments that allow players to get attached to whichever one connects with them the most. I really liked the way the different AI personalities interacted with each other and the way some were at odds while others would have a funny banter. Logic obviously wasn’t into most of the optional stuff you could do but it also made it all the funnier to hear her become more and more angry as you did the more “pointless” stuff that the other, more childlike, AIs would want. This story was told in a very great way with a creative message left at the end, something worth not spoiling for you all to find out on your own.
How’s the Gameplay?
These three AI are the core building blocks of what makes up Grace but through all this time being separated, they have developed their own personality and goals. Control, for example, doesn’t care for the revitalization of Grace as AI believes itself to be Grace. This makes for some conflict because Control controls the power and electricity of the Spire, his abilities are required. The solution Adie makes is having Logic create a new AI by mixing 2 of the cores. This is what introduces us to the first combination AI, Pal. Pal’s voice is one of a kid and is a mixture of Control with Empathy to “take the edge off” as Adie put it. Pal likes a more childlike approach to problem-solving, finding the fun in danger which in turn annoys Logic as seeking out danger isn’t something you should logically do. Just from describing that interaction, I think you can see how the game continues to develop. We find more problems require more combination AIs to be made with each of them having their own way of solving problems regardless of what the other AIs think, all of them being Pal, Mom, and Jack. The dialogue is definitely the main draw to this game as I wouldn’t have much to talk about in turns of gameplay.
Return to Grace mostly consists of walking around and clicking on the things of importance. There is no jump or sprint button, and the flow of the game is determined by the length of the dialogue. I’m someone who enjoys having high actions per minute in a game along with fun movement tech, so this game wouldn’t be for me. The puzzles can become very handhold-y as over time the AI gets fed up with waiting and will directly tell you the answer. An example I remember was one of the first times Logic told me to open a door. You’re then shown a 10×10 keypad puzzle where your objective is to light up a certain pattern. Sometimes the solution can be “Light up the center nine boxes” and the door will open. Other times Logic may be clever with you and say something like, “Here’s an easy one. The Greek letter Chi” At that time I didn’t know it was X so I did have to wait for her to be annoyed that I didn’t know it before adding, “You may know it as the Roman numeral for ten.” Later on in the game, you spend a lot more time doing more additional stuff rather than the “main objective” as Logic would state, and she gets enough of your illogical problem-solving and no longer allows you to use the main keypads. This forces you to use the Mom AI to access the mini keypads to open side doors and eventually, you could even have the Jack AI solve every puzzle for you. The only other gameplay mechanic to note is when you cross a beam and need to use A and D to balance yourself from falling off. That just leaves us with the presentation of the game.
Beyond those few gameplay mechanics, most of the game is driven by finding long-forgotten things within the Spire and asking the AI what it is and how they think about it. Overall, I wouldn’t consider this game something for me, strictly based on the gameplay mechanics. The dialogue and story on the other hand was something that kept me wanting to play more. The best way I could describe the gameplay is more so just another medium for the AIs to react to you and continue on with their humorous banter. But enough on that, now let’s talk about how the game looks and how it runs.
How does Return to Grace look and run
The graphics do look very good especially with the game being run at 4K, though the performance can get a bit choppy when walking between what I presume to be loading zones. I by no means have a beefy computer, running with a GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER. I know some of the behemoths of PC builders out there won’t see a single drop in frames when playing.
I think the hardest thing to say is if the game it worth what it is at its price point. I’ve never been someone who compares the fun of a game to a price point but being at 15$ for around a 2-hour experience may be a tough thing to sell for all gamers. If it’s fun then I would say it’s worth it so because I played through Return to Grace and had fun, it was worth it for me.
Final Thoughts
Return to Grace from developer: Creative Bytes Studios is a short and sweet once-through experience. It has nice dialogue but is more for viewing than interactive gameplay. As a game tagged to be known as a “Walking Simulator” I believe this is the pinnacle of the genre. With its beautiful local, interesting in-game history, and clever dialogue Return to Grace is a great pick for a narrative-driven game to play all in one go.
While the gameplay isn’t exactly my go-to first choice of gaming, after completing and experiencing everything the game has to offer, I can recommend this to those gamers who enjoy this type of gameplay.
